SL Navy to be more genocidal in future: Premonition of Mannaar Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 August 2017, 23:46 GMT]The uprooted Tamil women of Mu'l'lik-ku'lam, a strategic coastal village situated on the west coast of Mannaar mainland facing the Gulf of Mannaar, told TamilNet that the SL Navy, refusing to hand back their historical and fertile village, also been exploiting their resources while the people have been left to languish as rootless wanderers for 10 years. Meanwhile, a political analyst in Mannaar said: “We have seen the late Kadirgamar, a Tamil sitting as foreign minister under the CBK regime when one of the foremost diplomat of the nation of Eezham Tamils was assassinated and dumped behind the SL Parliament in 2005. Likewise, the recent appointment of a Tamil as commander of the overwhelming Sinhala Navy of the genocidal State, only gives a premonition of the maritime dangers going to hit the territorial waters of Tamil-speaking peoples and the entire Indian Ocean Region in the future.”

Commenting further, the political analyst who didn’t wish to be named, said the appointment of Rear Admiral Travis Jeremy Liyanduru Sinniah, who hails from Kandy, was not coming from the SL Establishment but something proposed by outside forces to give a ‘facelift’ to the SL military establishment before committing further crimes in the future.

However, the powerless commander, could for example prove his credentials and ‘independency’ in decision making by passing certain acid tests of Eezham Tamils. One of such tests from Tamil-speaking peoples in Mannaar would be the test of complete de-militarisation of Mu’l’l’ik-ku’lam in Musali and relocation of the naval base to a jungle outfit somewhere else, the analyst further commented.

Mu'l'likku'lam and other SL Navy and Army bases in the region [Map courtesy: Google Earth, Legend by TamilNet]

There are many issues of contention between the native people and the occupying Sinhala navy everywhere along the coast of Mannaar district.

The SL Navy is a Sinhala Nay no matter what cosmetics the unitary State or its global backers do, comment Tamil-speaking political observers in Mannaar.

In the meantime, 56-year-old Gloria Peiris Soosaiyappu, a mother of four and 47-year-old Sebastiamma Selvarasa, a mother of three narrated the plight of uprooted Mu’l’lik-ku’lam people and how their struggle was sabotaged in an interview to TamilNet this week.

The villagers have been struggling without proper resettlement for the past 10 years. Everything, from ensuring a sustainable livelihood to a healthy life, is only possible if Mu’l’lik-ku’lam was released back to the people in its entirety, the women said.

They said the SL Navy had deceived Tamil politicians and priests, who in turn influenced the uprooted families to abandon their 38-day long continuous protest on Mannaar-Puththa’lam Road until 29 April.

“The Tamil politicians and priests came and promised that we could commence resettle in our own village and to trust the promises from the SL Navy Establishment. We went with hopes. The SL Navy promised that we could set up temporary shelters and to wait for our houses and lands to be released. But, we were not even allowed to put up the temporary shelters. We were also completely abandoned by the politicians and priests. After waiting for long, we have returned to our old location. We don’t know how to resume our struggle. The Tamil politicians and priests too failed to follow-up and make the SL Navy to deliver what it promised to stop our protest,” they said.

The women urged alternative strategies from fellow Tamils to retrieve their village back from the occupying Sinhala Navy.

The continued occupation of Mu’l’lik-ku’lam was termed as an act of systematic genocide against Tamils by former Land Commissioner of the North-East and Eastern Province Kathirgamathamby Kurunathan in his interviews to TamilNet in June and August.